MacMillan's Sea of Troubles, Yorke Dance Project, Soho Hotel

Under the artistic direction of Yolande Yorke-Edgell, Yorke Dance Project (YDP) specialises in unearthing and reconstructing works which are important parts of dance tradition, but for one reason or another may have fallen into near oblivion. This, of course, side by side with the creation and performance of new works.

One of the works YDP has given new life to is Kenneth MacMillan's 1988 Sea of Troubles, which it first revived at the ROH Clore Studio in 2016. Now the company, in association with the Royal Ballet, has adapted Sea of Troubles to film.

Kenneth MacMillan created the ballet for a small scale independent company, and released from the formalities of established ballet companies he was able to give free rein to his interest in expressionism. Presuming audiences would be familiar of the plot of one of Shakespeare's best known plays, MacMillan went for a psychological approach exploring harrowing feelings such as guilt and the Freudian implications of the mother-son relations, thus creating a visceral tale of grief, despair and madness.

Set to music by two modern composers, Webern and Martinů., this is a work for six dancers, with one, Dane Hurst, playing Hamlet and the remaining five (Royal Ballet soloist Romany Pajdak, Freya Jeffs, Oxana Panchenko, Edd Mitton and Ben Warbis) taking on the roles of Ophelia, Polonius, Claudius, Gertrude and his father. Simple props define each character, for example a wreath of daisies for Ophelia, and by wearing those props each dancer can become any of the characters. It's to be assumed that all the characters are Hamlet's own hallucinations.

Directed by the documentary features director, David Stewart, Sea of Troubles was filmed on location in the house and grounds of historic Hatfield House, a Grade I listed country house built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to King James I.

It premiered at the Clore Studio on World Mental Health Day. Further screenings are planned - WATCH THIS SPACE.